


Seldom Visions

by SpaceWaffleHouseTM



Series: One Shots from the Waffle House [39]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst with a Happy Ending, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, First Kiss, First Time, Fluff, Force Bond (Star Wars), No Pregnancy, Pining, Sex in the Millenium Falcon, Sleeping Beauty Elements, Virgin Ben Solo, Virgin Rey (Star Wars), cockpit smut, tros what tros
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-17 22:33:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29233077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceWaffleHouseTM/pseuds/SpaceWaffleHouseTM
Summary: After visiting an old sith temple, Supreme Leader Kylo Ren has fallen into a deep sleep when he pricks his finger on the point of a red crystal. Rey become is the first to find him, but his rescuer isn't just any general or pilot, it's the woman he shares a soul with, who haunts his waking hours, who still sees him even in his sleep.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: One Shots from the Waffle House [39]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1298357
Comments: 18
Kudos: 113
Collections: To Find Your Kiss: The Reylo Fanfiction Anthology's Valentine's Day Exchange





	Seldom Visions

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Andrina_Nightshade](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Andrina_Nightshade/gifts).



> My lovely prompter gave me "Prompt 1 - Star Wars is essentially a fairy tale set in space... So I challenge you to take a fairy tale/myth/legend of your choice and make it Reylo, complete with HEA. Bonus points for more obscure tales..."
> 
> and I don't know any obscure fairytales causes I ain't cool like that but I had fun with this one.

Danger lurks at all edges of his life. Ever since he killed his master and took on the mantle of Supreme Leader, Kylo Ren’s existence has been plagued by more threats to his livelihood than ever before. Even whilst Snoke was alive, it wasn’t exactly easy for him to keep safe. People who knew him in his past wanted to hurt him, people who knew Snoke was training a new apprentice wanted him dead, and even some within the First Order wanted to end his life to get rid of the competition to be the leader’s favorite.

Some simply wanted him dead because he was Kylo Ren, and he had a certain reputation.

Since taking on this new role, he does a lot of things alone. No one else can be trusted. Even at meetings to discuss strategy and resources, he keeps the audience minimal, except for when he makes a speech addressing the galaxy—his galaxy. It’s just safer that way. Kylo might lead a miserable existence, but that doesn’t mean he wants to die.

Especially not while he still holds out hope that one day, all this loneliness might change. The scavenger had left him behind on The Supremacy, rejected his offer that they rule together, and rendered them both unconscious when they’d fought for his grandfather’s lightsaber, but he’d seen it in her eyes. She wanted to go with him. A part of her knew as well as he did that they needed to be together, that their best option for survival was to go through life as one.

They were and are bonded, after all.

Even now he can feel her at the back of his mind, her emotions and thoughts tugging like a tiny, invisible string at his. He should ignore her, but he can’t. She consumes him, burns him like a fire, and he finds himself crawling for every tiny scrap she’ll give away.

It’s why he must keep himself busy. Thinking of the scavenger weakens him, he thinks, and so he’s here, at this ancient Sith temple in the unknown regions, praying he can find his way back to his ship afterward. That’s the danger of going out alone, he never knows what’s going to happen to him when he heads out.

The cave ahead doesn’t exactly help assure him that he’s headed anywhere safe, either. Above, a thunderstorm is rolling in overhead, lightning flashing against the underbelly of clouds so gray they’re black, a soft mist coming in like the advance guard of an army. It covers his hair in a thin layer of water, turning some of the more loose strands of his hair into little ringlets that frame his face and stick up from the crown of his head. Miserable conditions, truly, but none of them seem as awful as what lies in front of him.

Black, jagged rocks that likely formed from the eruption of an old volcano splinter up from the earth, jutting out from the cave as if they’re a line of defense against intruders. Perhaps they are, perhaps that’s why the Sith once utilized this dark, terrifying place that puts fear even in his heart because they knew what it was good for.

Inside, however, is what scares and intrigues him even more. That which he seeks is a weapon, and he isn’t quite certain what it does, but according to his research, it renders one’s opponent useless—and happens to glow red just like whatever lights the inside of the cave.

It isn’t just glowing, though, the damned thing is _pulsating_ , like it’s a heart that’s beating—as if it’s alive.

Swallowing his nerves, he climbs carefully over the jagged, hole-riddled rocks, grateful for the leather gloves he always wears on his hands as they glide over edges sharp enough to cut raw flesh. Every fiber in his being is telling him to get the hell out of there, to run as fast as he can and never return, but he presses on. This is a task only he can complete.

 _And he can feel whatever’s in there, too._ It’s calling out to him, darkness to darkness, and that light that’s always trying to shine in his soul is terrified, shriveled up and hiding in a corner of his heart as it screams for him to turn back, for him to run, but it’s too late. He’s at the cave entrance now, the pointed, terrifying rocks at the cave’s exterior giving way to a smooth, obsidian floor.

Everything is still bathed in red, and when the light is at its brightest, he can see the cave as it must have once been; red hot and surrounded by lava. A planet on fire, a world determined to burn. The cave goes on for several hundred feet ahead, the entire thing lit by that eerie, crimson glow, and now he’s just curious. He has to know what it is that’s causing the cave to light up, that’s calling out and beckoning him forth.

Whatever it is, he can feel it tugging at every part of his body—it’s got his legs, forcing him to take more steps forward, it has his arms, causing him to reach out for it just as it reaches for him, and it has his eyes, ensuring that he can see it when he finally comes upon the mysterious source of the light. It’s a crystal, not unlike the one he has in the hilt of his lightsaber, the one that’s allowed him to cut down many a foe, but this is not a kyber crystal, this is something else.

This is just as jagged as the rest of the rocks in the cave, but it is more crystalline in nature. He can see all of the fractals inside of it, every edge and angle, the specific manner in which it must’ve formed.

Beyond the physical aspects of it, though, he can see into its _soul_ , into the little facets of it that make the damned thing tick, and he can feel it laughing at him. There’s no sound, but the room suddenly carries the same energy that Snoke’s throne room used to have whenever he’d mock his young apprentice.

The whole thing makes him shiver, as if the temperature in the cave has suddenly plummeted twenty degrees.

Yet somehow, he finds himself removing his gloves, exposing his skin to the open air, because something in the back of his head has told him so, has demanded that he do this. _Closer,_ it beckons him, _so close._

It comes as a hiss in his ear, not unlike what had happened when he used to hear Snoke whisper to him as a child. For a moment, he shivers, but then his body moves forward, unbidden, beyond his control, and though he wants nothing more than to run away as fast as he can, he can’t. This crystal has a grip on him, it has his mind, it has his thoughts, and all he can think is to touch it, to reach out and grasp it in his palm, but first—

His fingertips ghost over the point of the sharpest edge of the crystal, and at first it just feels cold and sharp, but then a harsh pain radiates from his finger. Gasping softly, he pulls it away, finally regaining some control over his body as he looks at the tiny droplet of blood now sliding down to his first knuckle. A brief thought occurs to him that it hurts more than a minor cut like this should, but then his vision starts to blur.

A low groan parts his lips, his eyes falling back on the crystal as he holds his hand close to his chest, getting the strange feeling that it’s laughing at him as he grasps at the edge of a nearby rock. Now he feels faint, on the edge of total collapse, and he knows that he should’ve run a long time ago, but he never could’ve predicted this outcome. All he can do is hope that he’ll wake sometime soon.

 _You won’t,_ the crystal whispers to him, the voice uncannily similar to Snoke’s, and he fights the urge to scream in terror as he falls to the dark, shimmering floor of the old volcano. Without question, he knows it’s telling the truth. He may wake one day, this isn’t death, he isn’t dying, but he will never know when that will be.

His life is no longer in his hands, and as his world spins into blackness, he cries out with his mind, a shout into the force, into the bond that connects his soul to that of Rey’s, and hopes it will be enough. As the last of his consciousness leaves him, he feels a pinprick of light at the edge of his mind, and his last thought is filled with the knowledge that she knows he’s in danger, that she senses his distress.

The world finishes its descent into darkness, but he still doesn’t know if it’s enough.

*

Rey isn’t sure where the sudden dizziness she’s feeling comes from. One minute, the Falcon is zooming out of hyperspace and she’s coasting through the atmosphere of a planet in the unknown regions, and the next, she’s on the cusp of losing consciousness. Everything is spinning, her body feels like it’s being weighed down by gravity a hundred times more intense than what she’s used to, and she can’t even call out to Finn or Poe over the radio as she continues going down and down and down.

Vaguely, she registers her friends saying her name, asking if she’s okay, and the sound of someone’s voice shaking, but she doesn’t have the ability to respond to any of it. All she can do is fall deeper into this pit, surrender to the feeling of her head being slowly submerged into water, until she’s out completely.

There’s no telling how long she sleeps before she sees him before his dark form comes into her vision through a black field coated by silver mist. Her heart stops for a moment when she sees him, his body lying prone on the ground, one hand resting over the center of his abdomen while the other lays splayed out by his side. This is her dream, but he’s the one unconscious, unmoving, and hardly breathing.

She’s supposed to be his enemy, but when that feeling settles in her gut, the one that says he’s in trouble, she bolts to his side immediately, kneeling to hold his face in her hands as she smacks his cheek lightly with her fingers. It won’t rouse him, she knows it won’t, but she has to try.

“Ben?” she calls out softly, his name leaving her lips for the first time in months, and _oh,_ how she’s missed the way it feels to call him that. “Ben?”

But he doesn’t answer her, his lips remain closed, his breathing even as she lets her hands rest over his chest, feeling his heartbeat. It’s strong, thudding powerfully beneath his sternum like always, but it’s too even. Sure, he’s sleeping, but his heart shouldn’t be so steady like this, his breathing shouldn’t be this perfect.

Something’s wrong, and she’s known this since she first looked at him, but she doesn’t know what. “How did this happen to you?”

Silence is the only response she gets, and she begins to give up, to surrender to the fact that in this dream, she won’t be hearing from him, but then his hand shoots up, wrapping around her wrist so suddenly she shrieks. The sound is involuntary, but the way she leans over him, the way she hurries to make sure he’s okay, that’s completely under her control.

Despite everything, she still cares for him, and when his eyes flutter open a couple of seconds later, she can see the gold in his irises, soothing the ache in her chest that had developed when she first saw him lying unconscious. “Can you hear me?”

The need to gently tap his face with her palm never comes. He wakes slowly, his body unmoving as his eyes wander about the room, searching until they find her, then they fill with a strange mix of relief and alarm. “R-Rey?” His voice is genuinely full of disbelief, his body tense like he’s not sure whether to run away or sweep her into his arms. Given their last interaction, she’s not sure she blames him.

“Ben, where are you?” She’s not sure how to explain their situation, or how much he already knows, but it’s best to start from the beginning.

His mouth opens and closes a few times, like he’s trying to find the words to say, but then she realizes, as the sound comes out choked and harsh, that he’s struggling to speak. Whatever happened to him, he’s been rendered completely inept.

The realization hits a second too late. She reaches out to him, arms outstretched, hands searching for his, but she’s too late. Their bond, the very same thing which brought her here, is now tearing her away, darkness swirling in her vision as he suddenly begins to fade. A part of her starts screaming, her fingers still extended as they reach for him, but it’s no use. “Ben…”

He probably can’t even hear her now, the smoky blackness has taken over, and before she knows it she’s falling, going down and down and down until—

Rey wakes up in the cockpit of the Millenium Falcon. Blinding white lights filter in through the windows, but it’s not the blue blur that comes with hyperspace, no, it’s the atmosphere of the planet she’s breaking through.

It takes her a second to remember that when the bond connected them she’d been descending into the unknown regions, into the atmosphere of a planet the Resistance had sent her into—well, Leia had sent her, something to do with those ancient Jedi texts she’d found and stolen on Ahch-To—and now she’s halfway down. The Falcon has almost plunged through the fire, almost broken through to the stratosphere, but she has yet to start slowing the ship down.

If she doesn’t do it soon, she’ll be seeing him in that dark landscape again, only this time, she’d be the one on the ground, and she wouldn’t wake up. “Shit!” she cries, reaching for the gears to slow her speed as clouds begin to come up from below at a rapid pace. The tops of the tallest ones begin to zoom past, her heart racing with the ship’s shaking as the fear sets in.

How long had she been out? How long was she with Ben in his odd little dreamscape? Reaching out to him now, she can feel that he’s unconscious, that he’s still trapped wherever they just were together, and like her, he’s scared. Whether he can feel her terror, it’s his own fear, or both, she can’t tell, but it’s not helping her to keep her head level whilst trying to make an unexpectedly dangerous landing.

Before she’s ready for it, dark, jagged rocks are piercing up from the ground, their edges threatening to stab through her front windows if she doesn’t pull up quickly. It’s a lucky thing years of scavenging give her quick reflexes, and she brings the ship up just in time to begin a safe glide over the jagged, raw ground below.

Everything moves in a blur beneath her, and the confusion she feels in the post-dream haze is still fogging her mind, her vision, her ability to hear anything. Static fills her ears, though upon further observation that’s actually from the Falcon’s com system trying its best to reach a signal that’s no longer there. Figures she’d lose access to her friends in the unknown regions.

_Figures._

The one unmistakably clear thing, though, is Ben. She can feel him in the force like a beacon—he’s somewhere ahead, unconscious and unmoving, and she has no idea what’s happened to him, but she’s about to find out. He’s getting closer with every passing second, and so she slows the ship to a cruising speed, hovering low above the ground—or at least, as low as she can get without scraping the ship into tiny little shreds.

He’s close, painfully so, and with every passing second, their connection seems to be growing stronger and stronger. By the time she flies over the silhouette of his TIE Whisperer, the sharp edges piercing out from the obsidian, rendered almost invisible by their surroundings, she can feel him as if he’s sitting in the cockpit with her.

With a grunt, she turns the Falcon once she passes his ship. If the Whisperer is there, then its pilot can’t be far away.

Reaching out into the bond, she attempts to reassure him, to tell him she’s there, but given that nothing changes in the mood she feels in the bond, she’s not sure if he got the message. Still, she presses on, landing the ship right beside his, the wingtip of his ship mere inches from hers. No attention is paid to the TIE, though. She’s too busy rushing out of the Falcon to reach the man she’s bonded to, the man who quite literally seems to have a part of her soul inside of him.

No matter how complicated her feelings for him maybe at the moment, he’s in danger, and she’s going to save him. Right now, Ben Solo is her own personal damsel in distress.

Rey isn’t sure she’s ever run so fast. The ramp of her ship isn’t even fully down before she’s leaping off of it onto the shiny surface of the black rocks that make up this planet’s surface. She’s going to have to be cautious on this terrain, every inch has something sharp enough to pierce flesh on it, but she’ll manage. She has to. Ben needs her.

Well, maybe not her specifically, but he’s in trouble and she happens to be nearby.

Climbing over the jagged rocks now, she’s wondering how much longer he’ll be alive. Each one seems more slippery and sharp than the last, making her fear that somehow he’s wound up impaled on one rise more and more with every passing second.

But he doesn’t seem hurt. When she saw him in that odd little dreamscape, he’d seemed relatively healthy save for his state of unconsciousness. No, he did not meet a doomed fate on the rocks, but something has him in its grip, something else did this.

She feels it a second later when a familiar sort of darkness fills the space between herself and the man she’s trying to find. Something sinister is in the air, almost snickering at her as she climbs over the crest of a hill, finding herself standing before the entrance to a cave. Those same rocks jut out from the edge of it, an effect similar to oil on water shining from its surface every time lightning flashes overhead.

Great, because this planet wasn’t already frightening enough, it also has to be storming, too.

Lightning is another threat, which makes her feel as if this entire planet is out to kill her—to kill them _both_. If they manage to make it out of this alive, she’ll be proud—and hopefully, she’ll have him by her side.

If he comes with her, that is. She’s not sure what he’ll want once she gets him out of here. There’s still a mission for her to complete, after all, and the last time they spoke—well, they speak somewhat frequently through the bond. It isn’t as if they have a choice as to when it connects them after all, but none of the conversations ever move them anywhere.

All either of them has learned is that they want to forge a path forward together, but they have vastly different ideas of what that path looks like.

At least, Rey thinks they do. Sometimes she remembers his proposal from Snoke’s throne room, sometimes she thinks about what might’ve been if she’d taken his hand—she thinks about it almost as often as she thinks about what would’ve happened if he’d followed her. There are even days where she wonders what would’ve happened if they abandoned it all, if they’d gone off and lived their own lives, disappeared into the galaxy, and let everyone wonder what had happened to them.

That’s a fantasy, though, and in reality, she’s coming upon the entrance to the cave, the connection she feels to Ben growing stronger with every passing second. The feeling of something evil staring at her, covering her in some sort of invisible cloak, and wrapping its claws around her body is growing stronger as well. It’s not alive, it’s not an actual, living soul, but whatever this is, she suspects it has something to do with his downfall.

Stepping into the cave, she can see a red light shine off of the rocks’ obsidian surface, pulsating like a slow beating heart. It makes her own race with every inch forward, her skin breaking out into the strange little bumps she gets when she’s cold, but she isn’t. What she does feel rather strongly, though, is terror. Every second she spends in this place she grows more afraid, as if every ounce of her courage is slowly being drained from her body.

Somehow she keeps going, tugging on the tie keeping her bonded to Ben, using that invisible rope as a guideline leading her to him until she spots the edge of the cave.

The red, pulsating light grows stronger, brighter, and she can almost hear it vibrating as she gets closer. At the end of the tunnel, she can see the crystal it emanates from, its edges similar to the rocks that make up both the walls and floor of the cave.

But it almost escapes her notice when she spots him lying on the ground, hands wrapped neatly over his chest as if they’d been placed there by someone else. His eyes are closed, but the lids flutter gently with the onset of dreams, breath passing over the rosy hue of his lips.

For the first time since she landed, Rey breaks into a run. Her old scavenger instincts kick in, and despite the deadly terrain, she leaps and bounds, the air flying by until she’s by his side, until she’s kneeling on the ground beside him, not caring that the edges of the rocks dig into her skin through the fabric of her trousers. The feeling is rather unpleasant, her skin already raw from just seconds of contact, but she ignores it in favor of resting her hands on his cheeks, his forehead, his chest, feeling the beating of his heart beneath her palms to ensure he’s alive.

“What happened to you?” she whispers, knowing he can’t answer, but still curious to find out.

A low vibration, almost similar to a laugh fills the air, drawing her gaze once again to the crystal, the light suddenly dimmed as she looks into it, feeling suspiciously as if she’s just made eye contact with this thing. It’s resting on the top of one of the sharpest rocks, like some sort of sickening dais or table, and for the first time, she notices that it also has a point, almost like it’s a weapon, waiting to be used on an unsuspecting victim.

There’s also a drop of blood on the tip, a crimson bead slowly making its way down the surface. As the chills rush down her spine, she looks down at Ben’s hands, taking hold of one of them and turning it over to reveal a small cut on the tip of his pointer finger. The cut is small, but a little stream of blood still flows steadily, creating a wet, damp stain on his other hand as well as the black fabric of his tunic.

It’s not a lot of blood, it shouldn’t render him unconscious, and yet, here he lies, completely gone from the world save for the beat in his heart and the breath in his lungs. The injury, minimal though it may be, is unmistakably the cause.

Adjusting her grip on his hand, she holds it close to her chest, trying to figure out how best to wake him up. “Come on, Ben, please…” she says quietly, wondering if he can even hear her. “Come back.”

That doesn’t work. Neither does shaking him. She tries gently smacking his cheek with her palm, then every other technique she’s tried on Finn, Poe, or Rose when the three of them refuse to get out of bed, but none of them work. He remains asleep, and she doesn’t need the force to know he won’t wake up no matter what she does.

The crystal on the dais has something to do with his injury, and the injury has something to do with his deep sleep state. Worry creases her forehead—she needs to get him out of here, take him somewhere safe where she can inspect him more thoroughly, but moving him is going to be a bit of a tall order. The terrain is dangerous, one wrong move could render her dead without his bodyweight holding her down, so no, going to the Falcon isn’t an option unless she becomes truly desperate.

Whatever she does for him, she’s going to have to do it here.

Resting her hand back on his chest, she thinks through everything she’s learned through her training with Luke and Leia, through the books she stole from Ahch-To. There is a way to heal wounds through the force, but all that can do is mend the small cut on his finger, which won’t be very useful in waking him.

Maybe she can connect to him through their bond. If Ben himself can tell her more about how this happened, she’ll be able to bring him back to reality.

Unsure of whether or not she looks foolish, she leans forward, and places her fingers on his temples, her eyes closing as she tugs on the string tying them together. “Ben, can you hear me?”

Silence follows, frustration building in the aftermath as she tugs a little harder, reaching for the faint tendrils of him she can feel wrapping around that string, tugging back to bring himself closer to her. Other than that, there’s nothing. He’s here, she can feel him, but he’s weak, an echo of the strength she usually feels when she senses him in the bond.

It’s hopeless. Until it isn’t. A few seconds later, Ben reaches back, his grip strong, his mind focused, and she almost smiles when she realizes she’s reached him under all the fog clouding their connection.

_Rey?_

“Ben?”

 _Why are you here? How are you here? Where are we?_ he asks, his questions slow, but one after the other, full of that same academic sort of curiosity he always has that used to drive her mad. Now she yearns to hear it, lives to hear the way he’s so intrigued by everything that’s happening around him, even though she’s terrified beyond all belief. _Hello._

A smile finally does part of her lips. “Hello,” she replies, leaning in a little closer. “I’ll tell you how and why I’m here in a moment, I promise, but I need to know what happened to you. You’re unconscious, Ben. You’re bleeding and unconscious and I need you to tell me why.”

He hesitates, his thoughts swirling for a moment before he seems to collect them. _I was on a mission for the First Order… There was this feeling, a voice of sorts calling out from the cave, I figured it was just the artifact I was sent to retrieve._

“And what happened after that?”

 _The crystal,_ he answers, and she looks up, her eyes opening briefly to note the dim light as it shines on them both, bathing them in a crimson hue. It almost feels as if it’s staring at them, laughing mockingly at their misery, at her confusion and his pain. _It called out to me, all but told me to touch it, and when I did, everything went dark._ He pauses, taking in a slow, deep breath. _It’s still dark, Rey._

“I’m going to try and get you out of here. I don’t know how, or what it wants, but I’ll get you out.” Swallowing her nerves, she closes her eyes, focusing on him once more, picturing his face, his hair, his clothes, until she can see him standing before her in that same gray, foggy dreamscape from earlier. “There you are.”

He almost seems to laugh for a second, but then he falters. _But why are you here? Why do you want to save me?_

Does he not know? Regardless of what’s happened between them, she’s thought it would be obvious that she cares for him. There’s a reason she ran from Ahch-To to meet him on the Supremacy, a reason she trusted him by the fire, and a reason she let him go when she fled to Crait. Their connection isn’t just something involuntary and cosmic, it’s born of something genuine.

Sighing, she leans in closer. “I care about you, Ben. Just because we’re apart doesn’t mean that stops. I don’t want to see you hurt.”

Relief floods the bond, his pulse quickening beneath her fingertips as he steps toward her in the dreamscape. _I care about you, too. I wish things were different._

“So do I, but we can worry about that after we get you out of here.” Taking a deep breath, she starts to strategize, thinking of everything she knows that can render someone in this state. “I need you to think hard, Ben. What did the crystal tell you? How did it persuade you to touch it?”

 _It didn’t tell me anything. It just had a lure of sorts._ Distress begins to filter in over the relief, his heart racing a little faster but for an entirely different reason this time. _I couldn’t stop myself, it just drew me in until I was on top of it. I don’t know how I’m alive._

But thank the force he is. His state of being alive means they have a second chance, they get to try and build a relationship between them, to make something of their bond.

That must wait, though. First, they have to get him out of this sleep-state, and as of this moment, she’s clueless. “There must be some way. It would’ve killed you already if it wanted to.”

 _We don’t know what it wants. I don’t even think it’s sentient. Something else must’ve given it power a long time ago._ His finger twitches in her hand. _The First Order wants it because it renders one’s opponent into a state in which they can’t fight. It’s what I wanted it for._

The last bit is said with shame, his head hanging low with the regret that’s heavy in his words. She has to admit she finds his motives unsettling, the idea that he’d try to use this weapon on her or her friends is far from comforting, but there’s remorse in how he feels about it. Perhaps he didn’t even want to do it, but he has a role to play, as does she. There’s only so much he can get away with before they stage a coup against him.

Kylo Ren is far more merciful against the Resistance than Snoke was, and she knows damn well why. “And what do you plan to do with it now?”

 _I… I will leave it behind. I’ll tell Hux and the other generals that there wasn’t anything here. They have to believe me._ He doesn’t sound confident about that, though. There’s something in his voice that tells her there’s more to this story, that tells her something else is hidden behind those words.

“What will you do?”

It’s a loaded question. He could take it anywhere, and she’ll be grateful just to hear an answer, but she has a good feeling about what he’ll say—an excellent feeling. _I told you before. The Sith, the Jedi, I want to leave it all behind. All of it._

Heart beating a little faster at the thought, she opens her eyes, looking up at the crystal on the dais before looking back at his sleeping face. He could be so much more than this, more than just the dark Supreme Leader, more than Snoke’s successor. The potential he has is cosmic, he can shake the stars if he wants to, but he’s stuck. All he needs is to break free, and this could be that moment, she just has to open the cage.

This stupid crystal is the key to everything, if she can figure it out, she can end this right here and now.

Squeezing his hand a little more tightly, she brings it to her lips, placing a tender kiss on his fingertips. “You hurt me when you said that the first time. I think some part of my heart broke when I realized you wouldn’t follow me home. What do you mean when you say that now? Will you follow me? Will you _join_ me?”

He hesitates, but in the bond, she feels something almost immediately, something that feels like acceptance, and that’s good enough for her. _As long as we take our time._

“As much as you want,” she tells him, then she releases him from her grasp, turning to face the crystal as she rises to her feet, and lets that lure bring her closer with steps she is barely aware she’s taking.

The distance between herself and the crimson gem is minimal, and somehow the journey takes forever. It’s as if she’s moving in slow motion, her body slicing through the impossibly thick air, or even walking through water. Eventually, though, she makes it, the crystal standing at about waist height, her eyes locked on its glowing heart.

Up close, it looks downright sinister. From a distance, she’d known—sensed—that it was bad, but she’d never imagined anything like this. Something about this thing, despite it not being sentient, makes her feel as if it's watching her. She’s spent a lot of time around droids, and ones like Artoo or BeeBee never give her the feeling of being stalked. No, this is a different sort of feeling, a dark, wicked one that makes her want to run away even as her body remains bolted to the floor.

Ben described it as a lure, something which captivated him and drew him in until it was too late and he’d already fallen under its spell. She must resist it, whatever the cost, must prevent herself from reaching out and touching the tip as he had done. If she finds herself in the same state he’s currently in, no one will find them, and they will sleep here for all eternity.

Though it takes every ounce of strength she has, she reaches down, and places her hands on the sides of the dais, breathing deeply as she tries to reach out to it. How does she connect with something nonsentient? It isn’t quite like a lightsaber, the kyber crystals are far more alive than this—or at least, she thinks they are, neither Leia nor Luke has mentioned this—but if she digs deep enough, she might be able to guess how it works.

It’s a device, a weapon, not a creature.

Beneath its surface, she can feel it and its purpose. The crystal renders its victims unconscious with just a single touch, its lure generated by the dark side of the force, but she can’t quite see how its work is undone. There must be a way—no such device could ever exist without a way to undo its work unless it were for death, and Ben’s not dead.

But what is the method? How does she save him? Those are the questions she’s been asking herself since she realized he’s in trouble, and though it hasn’t been long, she’s frustrated that she doesn’t have an answer.

She pushes harder, breathing coming fast as she finds herself overwhelmed by the crystal’s darkness, her body freezing as she gets overwhelmed by a strange yet familiar feeling. Her heart pounds, sweat beads at her temples, but in her chest, she feels something loosen, a fluttering occurring in her stomach. It’s almost kind of wonderful.

It’s the same feeling she gets when Finn makes her laugh or Rose hugs her after a particularly rough mission. She even gets it when Poe tells her off for mistreating his droid or Leia lectures her on a mistake she made during training. They make her feel complete, like she’s whole, and even Ben makes her feel that way.

Ben in particular makes her feel that way. He makes her heart skip beats and her body shiver, haunts her every dream, and every time the bond connects them, she feels that same sense of comfort. Like the crystal, beneath his layers of darkness and fear, she senses love at his core.

_Love._

Neurons fire in her brain, realization dawning as she opens her eyes, finding it still peering into her soul, but she’s not afraid of it anymore. Not now that she knows what it wants, what it _needs_ from her.

Turning back to Ben, she finds herself fighting a smile. She’s also scared as hell, but in all her life, both as a scavenger and a fighter, she’s been in far hairier situations—some of them by his side. “I don’t know if you saw what I did,” she tells him as she begins to walk back toward his still unconscious body. “But I’m terrified, Ben, and I need—”

What does she need? Comfort? Reassurance? Guidance? No, it’s not any of those things, she just needs _him_. More importantly, she needs him to wake up, but she knows now just what it is she has to do. “I’d tell you to lie still, but I don’t think that’ll be a problem.”

Kneeling beside him, she places her palms over his cheeks, inhaling deeply one last time. “Because I know what the crystal wants, I know how it underestimated you, and I’m not going to let it win. Not now or ever.”

Nothing else needs to be said. She can feel the moment he catches the meaning of her words, when he realizes how she’s going to save him. His face grows hot, a feeling of excitement floods the bond, and his breathing trembles as she leans in closer.

All fear abandons her as she feels his breath ghost over her lips, making her feel as if she’s surrounded by warmth, blanketed by something she can only describe as pure _Ben._ He becomes everything flooding her five senses in every way except for touch.

Her lips meet his, and the entire planet begins to spin.

In her twenty years of life, she’s never been kissed, and while he isn’t kissing her back yet, there’s something about the contact that makes her entire body feel as if it’s a livewire, sparking with electricity. Just feeling him against her, feeling his lips connect with hers, ignites something in the bond.

And then she feels him wake up. Something in the bond snaps, and seconds after they make contact, she feels his muscles flex, his hands coming up around her to support her back and the base of her skull. A soft moan leaves him, his body melting against hers as they begin to move together.

There’s no other feeling like it—the closest one she can think of is how it feels to fly. It’s just like soaring through the endless night, stars whirring past at light-speed in a beautiful blur.

It feels _right_ in a way nothing ever has before, as if fate meant for her to be here in his arms, kissing him, holding him tight as he pushes himself up, allowing her to settle on his lap. For a moment, the entire galaxy feels as if it’s at peace, and though she is starting to feel the effects the lack of oxygen has on her brain, she doesn’t care.

Ben is here, alive, and awake, and that’s all that matters.

Pulling back is both painful and the best thing that’s ever happened to her. She misses the contact, but when his eyes flutter open and he looks at her like he’s just seen all the green in the galaxy for the first time, it becomes her new favorite memory.

Breath leaving her in a rush, she tries to think of what to say, but her head is empty—a blank space that she can’t fathom a way to fill. “Hello.”

“I think we already said that,” he replies, voice still low and full of wonder. “But hello.”

“I don’t know what to say.” They both laugh as his hand comes up to caress her cheek. “But I need to get you out of here, that thing is still there, and we can’t touch it or—”

He silences her with another kiss, an unexpected whimper leaving her as she wraps an arm around his shoulders to steady herself, her fingers winding their way into his hair. They really should be going, even now she can feel the crystal haunting them, its dark edges burrowing into their minds in an attempt to bring them back.

They can kiss for as long as they want to anywhere but here.

“We have to go, Ben, I know you can feel it,” she says as she pulls back, then she sighs. “And besides that, we have a lot to talk about.”

Looking back at the crystal, she feels a pang of longing through the bond that is not her own. He’s being pulled by it now, somehow influenced by it more deeply than she is, and she has the feeling that if she looks at the crystal right now, she’ll feel the same.

Ben gives her a nod. “Where will we go?” And oh, what a loaded question that is. They have two ships, two potential return destinations, and based on the conversation they had while he was asleep, she feels almost certain it won’t be hard to convince him to follow her, but there’s still a chance for everything to go wrong.

“Where do you want to be?” she asks, rising to her feet before she offers him a hand, holding onto it even once he’s already standing, needing to feel him until they’re out of the crystal’s poisonous grasp. “I don’t know about you, but for some reason, despite how much we’ve been through, I feel better when I see you.”

“You just kissed me, Rey, I think you know why.”

“I want you to come with me—no, this time, I want you to _join_ me.” Her eyes flicker between his for half a second, but no longer—the jagged nature of the cave doesn’t allow for looking at anything but what lies ahead while walking—catching a hint of consideration in his eyes. He doesn’t want to go back to the First Order, that much is clear. He can’t return, but as conflict settles into their bond, she realizes there’s a reason he has conflicting feelings about going back with her as well.

For one, the Resistance knows him and his face, and for another, his mother is there, and he hasn’t seen her since… before he fell.

This isn’t a simple decision, but she can feel the moment he makes his decision. Whatever it is, though he hasn’t spoken it out loud, she can tell it’s a happy one, she can feel it in the warmth that floods their connection.

He doesn’t have to say anything for her to know what he’s chosen. The moment they pass by the cave’s entrance, he turns toward the larger of their two ships, the one that’s largely considered to be a piece of junk, and her heart swells. “You’re coming with me?”

“I think I’d rather face the uncertainty of my past with you than a future anywhere else,” he admits, his hand tightening its grip on hers as she leads him to the still open entrance to the Falcon. “Even if being here is… hard.”

She can tell he means that from the way he looks at the edges of the ship, his fingers ghosting over the walls as they walk up the ramp and into the main cabin. Every passing second sends a new emotion into the bond, a strange mix of fear, conflict, and comfort filling the space between them, and she leans her head on his shoulder as they walk through the corridors.

For a moment, she’s so content she nearly forgets to close the ramp to the Falcon—and she reaches out to press the button at the last possible second—but then she feels the regret settle in as Ben passes one of the bunks, the bedroom she usually sleeps in when she’s not captaining the ship. When she’s not here, though, she’s in the bunk a little way down the hall where she knows Han and Leia once slept. The captain’s quarters.

“I used to sleep here,” he tells her, pointing to the mattress, which still has the sheets thrown back from the last person who slept in it. She thinks it was her, but it might’ve been Finn and Poe—it doesn’t matter. “When I was a child. Anytime we’d travel together, dad would always make us travel in this.” He shakes his head, walking into his room with a look of awe in his eyes. “I haven’t been here in more than a decade.”

“It can be yours again if you want.” Resting a hand on his arm, she leads him further inside, then sits down upon the mattress. “I only have this ship because—” She sighs, watching as he sits beside her. “It’s supposed to be yours. He would’ve wanted you to have it, so please, if you truly intend to follow me, take back what’s yours.”

His breathing shudders. “I can’t. I don’t—I don’t deserve it.” Shoulders slumping forward, he stares up at the ceiling, blinking as if he’s trying not to cry. “I don’t deserve you, either.”

“It’s not about that. You made the right decision, you left. You came back to me, to us, and I know no matter what you’ve done, your mother will be as happy to see you as I am.” Placing her free hand over the one already holding his, she takes a deep breath. “And I know it’s scary, but we’ll get through it. I always knew we would once we were together.”

Nodding slowly, he places a hand on her cheek. “I just have to trust you, don’t I?”

“Just like I trusted you, on the Supremacy. You didn’t let me die there.”

“Neither did you. You could’ve killed me after I didn’t go with you, you didn’t.”

“Because I knew your life wasn’t mine to take and I still had—have—hope for you.” Her forehead rests against his, waves of reassurance leaving her into their bond. “All I ever wanted was this, to hold your hand in this ship, to take you home where you belong—where _we_ belong.”

Another nod. “Take us home, Rey,” he says, his voice trembling slightly, but he doesn’t hesitate as he tightens his grip on her hand. “Where we belong.”

Rising to her feet once more, Rey tugs on his hand, pulling him up so she can guide him into the cockpit, their feet shuffling quietly on the ship’s floor with every step. His pulse is racing, she can feel it fluttering even in his palm, and she doesn’t need the bond to know he’s nervous to be back here again, to sit in the place his father had once commanded and relive all his old memories.

Their arrival into the cockpit occurs in complete silence, but his emotions say more than his words ever will. There’s heartbreak, warmth, love, and a different sort of sorrow bordering more on nostalgia than anything. He’s conflicted, but he knows this is right, that he’s meant to be here, and until the moment they’re in the pilot and co-pilot seats, they hold onto one another.

It’s only when she needs to reach for the controls that she dares to let go of his hand, sending waves of affection through their bond as he flicks the switches to start the ship’s engines. A hum fills the room, mechanical and low, then they begin to rise, the planet’s rocky surface disappearing below as they ascend toward the stars.

Just this once, she isn’t looking at the atmosphere on ascent. Instead, she’s watching him, her attention held captive by his eyes as they stare ahead at the endless abyss of space, the endless potential of what lies ahead. The hope she feels coming off of him is one of the most incredible things she’s ever seen, and for the first time, she thinks he might be happy.

Ben Solo, who she knows to have had little joy in his life, is finally happy. The realization brings a smile to her face, one which he must sense, since he looks at her not a second later with narrowed eyes and a smirk lacing the edges of his mouth. “What?”

“Nothing, I’m just really glad you’re here.”

“I… I think I am, too.” Then he shakes his head. “No, I _am_ glad. I am.”

Laughter spills from her lips as they break through the last of the planet’s atmosphere, then they’re flying free amongst the stars. This is it, this is when they finally get to head home together and begin a new life. Once they enter hyperspace, there’s no going back, they both know this, and so she turns to look at him one last time, asking the question with silence and a single gaze before he gives her a nod.

Pushing the lever to take them into light speed has never felt so _euphoric._

Everything around them becomes a blur, streaks of white and blue zooming past. Ben’s hand finds hers again, their fingers lacing together even as they continue looking ahead. Contentment swells in her chest, her heart fluttering rapidly as she tries to think of what to say, how to think, but all she knows is how this makes her feel, and that’s enough. “You know, once this war is over we’ll be free to do whatever we want.”

“What do you mean?”

Her gaze falls as he looks at her, thumb brushing over the back of her knuckles. “We could go explore the galaxy, just us, no one else.” Swallowing her nerves, she finally turns to look at him. “When I came to the Supremacy, that’s what I wanted. I wanted us to end this war and live freely, be whoever we wanted to be without everyone else expecting something from us.”

He bites his lip, uncertainty wavering briefly in the bond before she senses resolve. “I—I’d like that, a life with you.” Shifting in his seat, he releases his grip on the controls as she follows suit. They don’t need the controls while cruising through hyperspace anyway. “I wanted it too, in my own way. We both thought we’d leave the Supremacy together, but never imagined—”

“We’d want it in different ways?”

A nod. “I think they match a little better now.” His voice falls low again, and it’s full of so much unspoken tenderness, she feels as though she might melt into the pilot’s seat. “Rey, I know it’ll take time, but I’m sorry for everything that happened before.”

“There are so many things we need to talk about,” she tells him, reaching up a hand to cup his cheek. “But we have time, and a very long journey ahead, I think it can wait.”

Soft laughter leaves them both, then his fingers come up to cover hers. “And how will we pass the time?”

Her answer comes in the form of another kiss. She crosses the space between them, leaning forward over the controls to press his lips to hers, and this time he doesn’t hesitate. Ben’s arm comes around her waist, his hand splaying out over her upper back, and he holds her as close as he can without dislodging one of the controls and sending them spiraling into the infinite night.

It’s a wonderful kiss, one that makes her feel as though anything is possible, as if that beautiful future she’s imagined for them is certain rather than just something she strongly desires. But as wonderful as it is, there’s just enough space between their seats—and equipment—that it’s uncomfortable for them to reach as close as they are.

Pulling back, she shakes her head, brushing a piece of his hair behind his ear as she tries to think of a better way to do this. “Can I sit with you?” she asks after a couple of seconds pass with only the sound of their panting filling the space between them. “I think this would be easier if we were—”

The corners of his mouth tilting up, he nods, watching aptly as she crawls over the equipment, swinging a leg over his thighs so that she’s straddling him, and suddenly she detects another hint of anxiety in the bond. His lower lip quivers as he looks at her, his eyes drifting over her body, and she realizes something she’d somehow missed before. Kissing comes easily to him, he’s kissed before, and he knows her in a way no one else can ever hope to—kissing her is like breathing, but this new territory they’ve just stepped in, he has no idea what that’s like.

If she’s being honest, neither does she. Vague, sand-damaged holos she scavenged in her teenage years are the only example she has for this kind of thing, and if he’s anything like her, she suspects his knowledge comes from the same source. Neither of them is prepared for this, but she has a feeling he understands the emotional weight of it just the same.

They don’t have to do this. There are a thousand other ways they could spend their time on the journey home, but beyond the fear they both feel, she knows he wants this, that the way they feel right now is genuine. This is a bridge they want to cross together, one they wouldn’t cross with anyone else.

“I’ve never…” His voice falters as she places a finger over his lip, sinking further into his lap, their chests pressing together while she touches him as softly as she can manage. “Are you sure about this? About me?”

She answers him with a kiss, short and gentle, but full of meaning all the same. “I’ve never been more sure about anything.” Another kiss, this time to the corner of his mouth, followed by one closer to the line of his jaw. “It’s just us now. There’s no one else.”

Ben shivers beneath her, his arms coming around her waist, fingers gripping the fabric of her clothes as she brings her kisses down onto his neck, causing his breath to quicken. It takes all of her self control not to do the same, to breathe as deeply and evenly as she can, but she does it. Even when her fingers reach for the belt-buckle at his waist, she maintains control, her hands surprisingly steady as they undo the clasp, allowing it to fall to the chair beneath him.

Their lips reunite as she undoes the ties holding his cape to his tunic, then she slides that from his shoulders, figuring she’ll just move on to the base of the tunic next. She’s wrong. His hands find the belt at _her_ waist, and they begin to undo the buckles and straps, even the one keeping her blaster holster at her thigh. Feeling his fingers there against her leg makes her shudder, but she doesn’t break the kiss.

It does, however, make her body feel as though it’s vibrating, excitement rushing through her veins as he lets her belt, lightsaber and all, fall to the floor. They’re even now, their kiss breaking as they look at each other with a challenge in their eyes. Who will be the one to make the next move? Who will break first? It’s almost like a fight, the way they’re undressing one another, they’re cautious but bold, striking strategically as they try to figure out what the other’s next move will be.

In the end, she’s the one who moves first. Rey reaches for the edge of his tunic, and pulls upward. He manages a small laugh as he raises his arms over his head, allowing her to free him of the thick fabric covering his abdomen, then he pulls her back in for another kiss, allowing her no time to admire the way his arms look in the sleeveless shirt he’s wearing beneath.

A whimper leaves her as she cups his jaw with her right hand, her left winding back into his hair as her forearm rests on his partially bared chest. His hands, however, begin a different journey, wrapping slowly around her waist so they can access the edge of the tabards which she’s wrapped around herself. Undoing the tie around her waist, he tugs on the fabric until it begins to slip from around her shoulders, pooling around them in a little circle. He then pushes it away, letting it settle on the floor ahead of them, then his focus is back on her.

Despite his earlier lack of courage, he shows no sign of ever having been scared as his fingers dip beneath the hem of her shirt, but she finds herself trembling when she feels the tips of them against her bare skin. No one’s ever touched her like this before, in every sense of the concept, this is truly her first time—her first _everything._

Ben begins to lift her shirt over her head, and she pulls away from him to toss it somewhere in the back of the cockpit before her gaze settles on the little bit of midriff exposed by his shirt having risen a bit. It’s a tiny sliver of skin, but she can see the trail of dark hair leading down beneath the waistband of his pants, her breath leaving her in a rush as her fingers trail over it gently, stopping at the leather fabric concealing the rest of him from view.

“Your turn,” she whispers to him, placing a kiss on the tip of his nose before she grasps the edge of his undershirt, and begins pulling it over his head.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t go as smoothly as she plans. The shirt catches on his head, causing him to groan as he tries to pull at the fabric as hard as he can, but it won’t give, it’s simply stuck, and watching him struggle, Rey begins to laugh helplessly. He once commanded armies, fought with and against her, and now he’s struggling to remove his damned shirt.

The former Supreme Leader of the First Order can’t even take his shirt off right, and the realization just makes her laugh harder.

“Stop laughing,” he mutters, but as he finally manages to get his shirt over his head, she can see he’s smiling beneath the curtain of raven waves that fall into his face in the aftermath. His lips are parted, his teeth exposed to the light as he leans his head back against the seat, and laughs hard enough to shake them both.

Resting their foreheads together, she moves the hair out of his face, breath shaking as his fingers begin to wander beneath her shirt, tracing the outlines of her abdominal muscles. “If it weren’t obvious this is our first time before, it is now.”

Snorting his amusement, Ben leans forward to capture her lips in a kiss, causing her to whimper as his fingers trace the outline of an old scar. She’d gotten it during a nasty fall whilst scavenging, and until now, no one but her had ever seen or touched it. The desert, despite how hot it was, never allowed for her to expose skin, but here with him, at this moment, she could allow that mark to see the light of day, allow him to see her past and all of its horrors written like a dark tale on her body.

But as she knows well, he has stories of his own. As their kiss deepens, one of her fingers begins to trace the scar she’d left on him a year earlier, her touch growing unsteady with every passing second. She’s shaking, but she isn’t scared, nor is he given what she feels in the bond. They’re learning one another, memorizing the map of each other’s pasts. It’s exhilarating and terrifying, but as she pulls back to let him pull her shirt over her head, she knows it’s _right._

The way he looks at her in the aftermath has her feeling naked. It’s the most exposed she’s ever been, even though they’re both still half-dressed. His hands run down from her shoulders, the backs of his fingers brushing over the swell of her breasts before continuing down to her abdomen, to the waistband of her trousers. “You are incredible, Rey,” he whispers, leaning forward to place a kiss on the line of her jaw. “I…”

There are a thousand ways this sentence can end, a thousand things he can say, but in his eyes, she can see them all.

“I know,” she replies, then she kisses him again, sinking onto his lap to press their bodies together more tightly than before. At this new angle, she can feel everything, every muscle, every goosebump on his skin, the little fuzz of hairs that refuse to darken on his chest, and— _oh_ —the erection tenting his pants.

They both gasp into the kiss at the contact, a feeling of sheer pleasure rising through her as she moves against him again, grinding down as he tilts her head back, his hand cupping her jaw to kiss her more deeply. His tongue sweeps along the edge of her lip, causing her vision to spin as her hands clutch at his hair, earning her a whimper, an unexpectedly high pitch sound given how deep his voice is when he talks.

It’s spine-tingling to hear, causing her to move a little faster, apply just a little more pressure to get him to do it again. Thinking back on it, all of her favorite sounds are from him, whether it’s things he’s said or the little sounds he makes when they kiss—which is a new concept, but one she’s already grown to love dearly—she loves them, loves _him._

He rewards her with another low pitched sound, a gentle whine, and she grins against his lips. A feeling of mischief sinks into the bond, then his hips shift up, driving himself further against her, and she gasps as her grip in his hair tightens, the pleasure she feels radiating in the bond tenfold. It’s starting to feel as if something is building, the same thing she’s only ever felt under the touch of her own hand, and as she pulls back from their kiss, she gets the feeling he can sense it, too.

Eyes locked on his, she lets one hand fall to his cheek, watching his eyes as they stare into her soul, both of them watching the other as a feeling of absolute certainty settles in. From the moment they met, they’ve been heading for this. Somewhere deep down, they’ve both known it. She could feel him as they chased each other through the forest on Takodana, could sense something in the air when he took off his helmet on Starkiller Base, but the moment hadn’t come yet.

Now it’s here, they’re together, and if she has her way, they won’t have to part—assuming they manage the struggle that comes with bringing him home to the Resistance base.

The wave building inside of her is on the cusp of reaching its crest, her body feeling more alive than it ever has before as she moves a little faster, wanting to come on top of him, wanting him to join her as they fall over that edge, wanting—

“Wait,” he says, and though it takes her a half-second to register he’s spoken, she stops the instant she understands the meaning of that word.

A silence settles over them, his eyes sweeping over her face, her lips, her neck, her exposed upper half, and for a second, she thinks maybe he’s just taking her in. Then she senses curiosity and desire in the bond, and she narrows her eyes. “What are you thinking about?”

“I want to be with you,” he tells her. “In every sense of the word, I know we’re close, but I need—I need to feel you, Rey, I need to be _closer._ I need—”

Shushing him, she runs her fingers through the newly tangled strands of his hair, rubbing soothing circles into the base of his skull as she tries to think of what to say. “I want to be closer to you, too.” She presses another tender kiss to his lips, living for the way she can feel him smiling against her. “And we do have an awful lot of flight time to kill.”

Another smile parts his lips, then his hands drift down to the band binding her breasts, fingers tugging the end of it loose as he maintains eye contact. “However will we pass it,” he murmurs, then he pulls it off, the fabric scraping gently against her skin until he tosses it behind them, the fabric hanging loosely from a lever.

Neither of them notices, nor do they care. They’re too lost in each other, too caught up in the moment—Ben, in particular, is too lost staring at her chest, his eyes sweeping over the newly exposed skin just before his hands start along the same course. She shivers as his fingers brush over the taut, hardened peaks of her nipples, the skin pebbling further under his touch.

His name falls from her lips as his hands wander further down, undoing the button of her trousers before they tug them down over her hips. She has just enough frame of mind to push off her boots, one foot after the other before helping him peel the last of the fabric from her skin. Black leather boots soon join hers on the floor, but unlike when he’d removed her chest covering, he doesn’t take the time to admire what he’s uncovered.

Instead, he helps her remove his clothing, both of them falling into another fit of giggles as they struggle to take off his pants without launching one of their heads into the ceiling. It’s a surprisingly difficult task, involving a tangle of limbs and a couple of potential bruises to their heads, but eventually, they manage.

Eventually, they are both free of all clothing, free of everything holding them back, and most importantly, free to stare at one another unashamed. She can feel his eyes sweeping over her body, taking in every inch of her in this last moment before they surrender everything, but she doesn’t care, she’s too busy doing the same.

Hands trace the outline of every muscle, feeling goosebumps rise in their wake as his entire body trembles. “Just tell me if anything is too much.”

“It won’t be with you.” His voice is surprisingly steady this time, but he shudders again as her hands reach the v that’s formed by his hips. “Touch me, Rey, just—just touch me.”

Nodding, she lets her hands drift lower, fingertips ghosting over the length of his cock. She can feel how hard he’s straining not to jump or buck beneath her, his hands steadying themselves as they rest on her hips, pulling her closer to him as she wraps her fingers around him.

Her name falls loose from his lips as she strokes him gently, gasping at the waves of satisfaction she feels in the bond. The way this is making him feel is magnetic, making her want to bring him even closer, and so she does.

Keeping a steady hand on the base of his skull, she keeps them both stable, then begins to lower herself onto him, gasping slightly as he presses past her entrance. She’s already wet from their hurried but sweet grinding from earlier, but it still takes her a second to adjust to the size of him. He’s nothing like her two fingers she uses every time she does this to herself, but it doesn’t hurt like she thought it might.

No, he feels _good,_ inside of her, feels right, and while it becomes apparent very quickly that she cannot take _all_ of him, she does take enough that he’s all but vibrating with the effort to not come undone immediately. The sight of him with his eyes clenched shut, with his teeth pressed tight in a line, makes her feel something hot pool in her stomach, her lips tilting into a smirk as she leans down, and kisses him again.

The kiss brings him back to life, and not a second later, he’s kissing her back, moaning softly as she begins to move on top of him. They’re a little awkward at first, but soon they settle into a comfortable rhythm, moving as one, their thoughts spilling into each other to convey what they both want—what they both _need._

Their bond has never been stronger, or louder. Every feeling she feels is doubled, heightened, intensified, and she wants to bathe in that feeling, wants to hold onto it tightly and never let go. This is all she wants to feel, for the rest of her days, just Ben, his hands, his lips, his cock, and nothing else.

She just wants the Falcon to sail on and on into the endless night, taking them through the stars until it reaches the end of the universe.

One of Ben’s hands reaches down between them, his thumb pressing gently against her clit as he touches her gently, exploratively, causing her to whine against his mouth. Breaking the kiss, he sends a silent signal of understanding in the bond, then begins to circle it slowly at first, but he picks up the pace as she sends back her approval, creating further sweet friction as they pass through the stars.

At one point, his lips abandon hers, trailing slowly down her body until they reach her collarbone, stopping briefly only to leave a mark on her skin. Little bumps rise on her skin as he continues his descent in the aftermath, placing more kisses along the swell of her left breast before sucking it gently into his mouth, teeth dragging against it as she moans his name.

Her eyes flutter open as he swirls his tongue around it, catching a hint of mischief in his as he abandons her first nipple, then slowly kisses his way across her chest toward the other. His lips are now a shade of crimson deeper than his saber, his cheeks flushed a similar hue, and his wavy hair is so mussed she doubts he’ll ever be able to brush it back into order. “ _Force,_ Ben…” She loves him like this, messed up and drunk on what she can only think is _her_ , and as he takes her second nipple into his mouth, she knows it’ll only get better.

By the time his teeth scrape over her skin a second time, she’s on the edge, her body more alert and aware of everything it senses than ever, and when she reaches out into the bond, she senses the same feeling from him. Together, they move a little faster, her hips grinding a little harder against his as he releases her nipple, his head tilting up as she gives his hair a gentle tug, then her lips crash down on his.

The buzz that sends through her body makes her come alive, and she falls over the precipice, clutching him tightly as waves of pleasure flutter through her body, causing him to follow suit. They fall apart together, gasping each other’s names against their lips, then falling into a silence only broken by soft little noises brought about as they come down from their respective highs.

Both of them are panting hard in the aftermath, Ben’s hands coming up behind her back in a warm embrace as their lips part and come together in a series of gentle kisses. One of her own caresses his jaw, her thumb rubbing his cheek in a touch as tender as she can manage, something that conveys the depth of what she feels.

Through the bond, she senses warmth, comfort, and something that makes her certain he loves her, and she pulls back as those feelings settle in, becoming one with everything she knows about him. There’s a mental fact list she has about Ben Solo, and she’s just added another beautiful thing to that list.

“I thought I’d be cold after,” he admits after a couple of moments pass. When she hums her confusion, he manages a chuckle. “I’d just—I’d heard that after the heat passes, and the air settles, it can get cold, but not with you. You’re warm.” His fingers drift forward, ghosting over her bicep. “I could feel it in the dream, too. When I was under, I was so cold until you found me.”

“Luckily, neither of us took that damned crystal, we would’ve spent the rest of our days shivering.”

“I have a feeling with you I’ll never have to worry about that.”

A smile parts her lips. “And you’re sure about following me? You have no—”

“I’m nervous, but I know what I want,” he replies, gesturing to the window behind her. “Whatever future lies ahead, I don't care, as long as it’s with you.”

“And I, you.”

Sharing one last kiss, Ben takes hold of one of her hands, waves of reassurance filling the bond as it finally settles in that he won’t be leaving her this time, nor will she have to leave him behind for another day. That day has finally come for them to be together, and while it may be a terrifying road ahead, she’s confident they’ll be able to face it.

Peace of mind has finally come. With it, she slides off of him, resting in his lap as he presses one last kiss to her forehead, then together, they look out the window, watching the stars drift by in silence, the galaxy becoming a blur as they head straight on into an impossible, wonderful future.

**Author's Note:**

> I commissioned this beautiful art piece for this fic from [Derpy_Mommy](https://twitter.com/Derpy_mommy) on twitter:


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